Inert training ammunition and devices for absorbing the energy of a firearm firing pin, which may be referred to as snap caps, are known in the art. Such devices are used in the place of a live round of ammunition for training purposes. The user of a firearm can load a training bullet as the user would with live ammunition and then proceed to use the firearm as he or she would with a live round allowing the user to learn how to use the firearm and to gain a better understanding of the feel and effect of the firearm. In use, the firing pin of a firearm is released, as it would be with a live round, and drives forward toward the chambered training ammunition. The training devices are constructed to receive and slow the forward motion of the firing pin. The goal is to have training ammunition that will match the feel and action of a live round. Such training devices are beneficial to individual firearms owners and to professionals, such as those training to become law officers or for officers using a new firearm. Use of a firearm with an inert training round, or “dummy round,” provides for safer training of first-time shooters in military, law enforcement or civilian settings and for safer handling of a firearm when the user transitions to a firearm having live rounds.
Training ammunition devices currently known in the art typically comprise aluminum shell cases with polymeric primers that are cast-in-place or comprise plastic shell cases with spring-loaded inert polymeric primers. Though these devices are beneficial for training purposes, they have drawbacks.
The known aluminum devices are weak and subject to extraction rim breakage. They also lack acceptable levels of lubricity, and thus when they are used within a firearm they produce chards, shavings and dust which can contaminate the firearm. The result of these deficiencies is a training ammunition device that has a low life expectancy and which damages the firearms in which it is used.
The known plastic shell cases are beneficial mostly because they are inexpensive and easy to produce. However, the such devices are significantly lighter in weight than live rounds, and thus it does not properly replicate the feeling and firing of a metal shell live round, and, as with the aluminum devices, the material provides for a low life expectancy requiring a user to purchase the devices more frequently than should be necessary.
Though the aluminum and plastic training ammunition can simulate the firing of a firearm, none duplicate the actual weight, feed, and firing characteristics of a live round of ammunition. The present disclosure addresses these and other deficiencies in existing training ammunition by providing various advantages, including an impact energy suppressor assembly that can be used with a shell of any ammunition caliber.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.